The recipe I used couldn’t be simpler: Preheat your oven to 400 degrees, grease a mini-muffin tin (we only had a muffin tin; this works too, though your cheesebreads will come out “larger and in charger”). Then in a blender, blend the following until very smooth:

• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup olive oil (not too strong tasting, but use your own taste!)
• 2/3 cup milk (I used skim and everything was fine)
• a scant 1 1/2 cups tapioca flour
• 1/2 cup grated cheese of your choice (I used as the recipe recommends, a Mexican queso fresco, but I imagine other things are good too)
• 1 tsp salt
• other herbs/spices you might want in your cheesebread such as thyme, oregano, or red chili flakes!

Pour the resulting batter into your muffin tins about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way up, then pop them in the oven. They will get EXTREMELY POOFY. You should take them out after they look nice and golden brown (this took me somewhere between 18-25 minutes?). Cool them on racks and eat them once they’re cool enough to touch… or immediately—steam burns be damned! The texture is just what you remember from Chima: toothsome on the outside, almost mochi-like on the inside.

N.B. If you’re the type of guy or gal who tastes batter even if there’s raw egg in it (such as myself), you may think the batter is somewhat salty. Do not be alarmed: the salt is much less concentrated in the final product.

Served it up with flank steak rubbed with salt, pepper, minced garlic, and olive oil, then broiled on each side until there was no pink on the surface of the meat. The meat rested while I baked the cheesebreads, and it came out somewhere between medium and medium-rare. Juicy and delicious! :3 Michael took a picture of our “Brazilian Steakhouse Night” plates but I do not have it.

Here’s what I did:

• Decreased flour a bit. The recipe I quoted last time called for three and a half cups of flour, but I added a bit more to make the dough firmer. This time I did not add a teaspoon about three and a half cups, which made for a sticky and difficult-to-work with dough, but it seems to have worked.
• Let it rise longer. In this particular case, I let it rise in the fridge for about ten hours, then out of the fridge for another hour. After I shaped it into a loaf, it was another hour and a half before it reached the top of the loaf pan, and that’s when it went in the oven.
• Warmed the milk. Hard to tell how much of an effect this had compared to the other two, but I warmed up the milk in the microwave before adding the yeast. The yeast did seem a bit bubblier.

I’m really happy now with my recipes for risotto and penne alla vodka, but it took a number of tries to get them right; I’m sure the same will be true for bread. I’m starting with his basic Sandwich Bread recipe:

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast (or 2 teaspoons active dry yeast)
• 1 tablespoon sugar or honey
• 2 tablespoons softened butter
• 1 1/3 cups milk

Directions

1. Rehydrate/activate the yeast. Add the other wet ingredients and about half the flour and mix, then add the rest of the flour a bit at a time until it forms a slightly sticky ball.
2. Let rise in a bowl for at least 2 hours. Punch down into a ball and let rest 15 minutes, then form into a loaf and put in a greased loaf pan. Let rise for at least another hour.
3. Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees F.

My first attempt: not bad. I have a tasty loaf of buttery white bread. The main problem is that it’s short, squat, and extremely dense, not soft and fluffy at all. I’ve researched some things to do next time and regretted some things I did this time, so here’s what I’m going to try with the next loaf:

• The milk I rehydrated the yeast in probably wasn’t warm enough, in retrospect. Some sites also recommend using water for this task even if the recipe doesn’t call for any, and cutting down on the amount of milk.
• I actually let the dough rise for almost 3 hours the first time ’round, but my kitchen is pretty chilly at the moment. I’ll let it rise for a ridiculously long time next time!
• Several sites recommended cutting down on the amount of flour and just using a stickier ball of dough, which makes sense.
• I may eventually try bread flour instead of all-purpose, but I have enough of the latter lying around that it won’t be with the next loaf, at any rate.

In a couple of weeks I will be trying again. ‘Til next loaf!

Modified from this Allrecipes version.

• 3/4 cup milk
• 3 Tbsp finely chopped fresh lavender, or 3 tsp dried lavender flowers
• 8 Tbsp butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• If, like me, you are a tool who has self-rising flour lying around, you can use that instead of the last three ingredients.

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease two smallish loaf pans thoroughly–this bread likes to stick.

Combine the milk and lavender in a small saucepan over medium heat. Raise to just barely a simmer–you are looking for tiny bubbles around the edges, but not a full boil–then remove from heat, and allow to cool some.

Cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs until the mixture is light and fluffy (I did this first with a spoon and did not achieve fluffiness, and it was sub-par. Use a mixer!)

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt; alternate adding the dry ingredients and the lavender-milk to the creamed things until just blended. Pour/scrape into the prepared pans.

Bake for 35 minutes, or until a testing thing comes out clean. Cool pretty thoroughly in the pan before attempting to turn out onto a wire rack. When it’s cool, you can add a citrus glaze if you like. My last one was 1/4 cup powdered sugar / juice of about a third of a lemon / splash of vanilla, but this did not quite seem ideal.

You can find a pretty good transcript of the recipe here (but not quite complete, annoyingly), if you don’t have the cookbook. Note that you will also need her instructions on sauteing mushrooms (this one is a direct, complete copy) and brown-braising pearl onions (close enough), even if you think you know how to do these things.

Some notes:

• One of the best things about the original recipe is the detailed information on wine. It recommends pairing with “a fairly full-bodied, young red wine, such as Beaujolais, Côtes du Rhône, Bordeaux-St. Émilion, or Burgundy,” and using any of those or a Chianti to go into the stew.
• 3 cups of wine = 1 bottle. I doubled the recipe. Whoo!
• I bought pre-cut-up stew meat, some of which was cut a lot finer than the other, and on the whole big chunks worked a lot better for drying and browning.
• Conversely, I couldn’t find an unsliced chunk of bacon anywhere, and regular old thick-sliced seemed to work okay.
• I over-salted because I forgot, as always, to account for the massive amounts of salt in bouillon cubes. Use caution, or perhaps better beef stock.
• Blanching helps when you realize you have to peel 48 pearl onions.
• I couldn’t really get the sauce to thicken in the end, but it seemed to end up okay just letting it reduce a lot even if it never really reached light-spoon-coating consistency. =/

For extras, here is the rosemary bread recipe I have been fussing with of late. It’s sort of long but that’s because the procedure is the complicated part; sorry. Start this ~3 hrs before you want to eat it.

• 2 1/2 tsp yeast, which is~1 packet
• 2 c. warm water, ~110-115 F, which is warm but just shy of scalding
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp salt
• 4 c. flour. Bread flour is nice if you can get it, and if you do not consider extra gluten cheating.
• 2 tsp. minced fresh rosemary plus more for topping. Fresh is important! You can sub out some for fresh thyme.
• olive oil, corn meal, sea salt

Dissolve yeast in the warm water and sugar. If it’s NOT instant/fast-acting/bread-machine yeast, give it <5 min to froth up. Otherwise, immediately add flour, salt, and 2 tsp rosemary and stir until blended. Do not knead! Cover and let rise for 1 hour or until double in size; bonus points for putting it someplace slightly warm and moist.

Oil a baking sheet and sprinkle with corn meal. Perhaps try oiling your hands instead of flouring them, as the dough is super sticky, then divide it in half, shape each half quickly and loosely into a round by tucking the edges under, and place on the baking sheet. Cover and let rise another hour. The stickiness is again a problem; cooking-sprayed plastic wrap is the only thing I’ve managed to use that DIDN’T stick horribly and make the top of my loaves lumpy.

With bread, some last-minute rising happens in the oven and for that you want things hot and steamy (har). Start heating your oven early, maybe half an hour into the second rise, to 450 or “lots.” My oven here has no numbers on the dial between 350 and 500 so I use my imagination, but I don’t think getting it too hot is a possibility. If you have a pizza stone, put it in now. Also put a cast-iron skillet in the bottom of the oven (or something else which can be raised to high temps empty, then have cool water thrown in it without exploding).

When bread is again about doubled in size, brush with olive oil and top with more rosemary and plentiful crushed sea salt. Get yourself some water, maybe 1/4 cup, on hand near your oven as now you must act quickly! Put the bread in (just stick the pan on the pizza stone if using one, unless you want to get fancy and try to slide the bread onto the stone directly), dump the water on your previously-heated skillet or whatever where it will send up exciting clouds of steam, and close the oven door quickly. Bake 10 min, adding more water for steam if it runs out. Then turn the oven down to 375 and bake another 20 min or so until it’s golden-browny.

• They are delicious! While they steam they emit this stunningly tasty broth. Look into it.
• They are cheap, esp. for seafood! $5/lb is the price for Manila clams down at the Berkeley Bowl, and that is definitely enough to feed two people.
• When you buy them… they are STILL ALIVE. Creepy, eh?

This is a very simple and traditional way to prepare them, and the most expensive part is the bottle of wine, of which only about 1/2 cup goes into the cooking… so you get to drink the remainder with dinner! Serves you + 1 fly honey.

Linguini with clams (basic)

• 1 lb small clams, such as Manilla or Littleneck (this should be about 2 dozen and a bit)
• fat (butter or oil), about 3-4 tablespoons
• 3 large cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small shallot (or 1/4 of a mild-tasting onion), minced
• 1/2 cup dry white wine (Kendall Jackson’s sauvignon blanc is a very good choice here and it’s inexpensive too)
• 2 tomatoes, peeled, cored, seeded, and diced
• 1/2 lb linguini

Melt the fat in a large pot on medium, add the minced garlic and shallot and sauté until fragrant and beginning to soften (about 2 minutes). Add the clams to the pot, the wine, and about half the diced tomatoes. Bring to a boil, then cover and let steam until the clams open (about 5-8 minutes). Meanwhile, cook the linguini to your desired specifications. Remove clams to a bowl (discarding any that do not open… that means they were dead when you got them :/) and cover with foil. Drain the linguini and throw it in the pot, which should have a nice thin layer of broth at the bottom. Throw in the remaining tomato and toss it all together over medium heat for a few beats. Serve the linguini with clams on top (either you can remove them from their shells or the diner can… your choice!) immediately.

This recipe of course begs for additions and variation. I was planning on tossing some arugula in as well, but my stock had gone extra-bitter so I decided against it. I also added some grated chestnuts as an experiment, but I do not recommend this, as chestnuts are a pain in the ass to prepare and they didn’t add much to the dish.

Ciabatta - Fix a starter of 1 cup flour, 2/3 cup water and a pinch of yeast and chill for 12 hours. It will become turn bubbly and spounge-ish.  To begin making Christmas dough, add 2 cups flour, 1.5 teaspoons of salt, a measure of yeast in warm milk and about half a cup of water. For points, use a food processor to blend everything together. This sounds weird but works remarkably well! The processor makes every gluteney but if you don’t have one or enjoy being traditional: kneed, quarter turn, etc, until just prior to your arms falling off. Let rise for 90 minutes-ish. If you enjoy having larger bubbles in your bread, add a tablespoon of oil to the mixture. There were Experiments last night and we discovered this.

After rising, form two long, flat loaves. It shouldn’t need to be fooled with too much but punching it down helps. I also like to throw cornmeal on the tray before I transfer the loaves. Let rise for a slight bit more, then cook at 400′ F for 20 minutes.  You should get two well rounded ciabatta with a thin, golden crust and a fluffy interior.  Did you know ciabatta means ‘slippers’? I did not!

Vinaigrette- Add freshly pressed garlic, salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar, sugar, mustard and slight amounts of olive oil together. The consistency should be thick & syrupy. The secret is more sugar and less wet ingredients compared to one you’d make for a salad. I suggest making lots of this and keeping it about the house . By about the house, I really mean Securely in the Refrigerator.

Slice a loaf in two and drizze the vinaigrette on both sides, add lots of pepper, a little bit of salt and chopped basil. If it smells good, you’re doing it right! Add prosciutto, a soft mozzarella and if you both wish to be traditional and enjoy tomatoes, which I do not, slice & add one!

You now have a sandwich! You win! There’s a particular name for the vinaigrette, mozzarella, tomato & basil combination but it eludes be just now. Carefully piling the Tomato/mozzarella/basil together without bread or prosciutto will create a simple & elegant appetizer-salad thing.

rosemary bread yet again

First I baked rosemary bread yet again, for a dinner party, following this recipe for an unkneaded peasant bread. This time it came out much much lighter, fluffier, and more delicious. Basically I followed the directions more carefully and this worked (who knew!) although I also stuck my roommate’s pizza stone in the oven while it was preheating, then stuck the bread pan right on top of it to while baking, which may have helped.

I infused some olive oil with garlic and left-over fresh rosemary while it was baking, too, for dipping purposes. This was a good idea.

mm breakfast!

Hungry grad students ate all my bread at once, so the next day I made scones, using my current favorite recipe (via Smitten Kitchen, with modifications here), only lemon-zest-and-cranberry this time (I had no oranges). A nice thing I’d forgotten about this recipe is it involves no eggs, except for the glaze, so licking the spoon is completely acceptable.

Finally, I made tomatoes filled with rice again (for the third time!) and yet again, they were devoured before photographic evidence could be acquired. You’ll just have to trust me on them.

Here's the bread rising, looking bizarre

Both times I’ve made the loaf I have had to add a little bit of water after the kneading process, but not a huge amount..  The bread tastes pretty good by itself. It is sweet, but not overly strawberry flavored. I find that it actually tastes more strawberry-like when it’s made into french toast, but even then don’t expect to be hit with an intense strawberry flavor. It’s very subtle (but delicious!)

For french toast, I recommend cutting the loaf into about 12 slices for thick-but-not-too-thick french toast.  I admit that I don’t follow an exact recipe for french toast, but the basic gist of it is to warm up a griddle or frying pan (be sure you have some kind of substance to help the french toast not stick – butter, pam, whatever..)  I usually soak the bread in a mixture of eggs,  milk, vanilla and cinnamon until it is saturated – but not excessively dripping.  The strawberry bread is very dense, so it helps if you poke the bread a few times with a fork while soaking to let it go all the way through. Then cook the bread on the heated surface until it’s golden brown (and not dripping liquid ).    Top with maple syrup or strawberries and whipped cream or even just a little pat of butter… and enjoy!

Recipe from the back of the whole-wheat King Arthur Flour – I’d heard good reviews of it even though it does things I normally feel like are cheating, such as add oil and honey – with my comments in bold:

• 2 1/2 tsp instant yeast OR the equivalent in active dry yeast dissolved in 2 Tbs warm water
• 3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
  
• 1/4 cup honey, molasses, or maple syrup * I used honey
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil * I used olive oil – olives are not unlike vegetables?
• 1 1/3 cups lukewarm water
• 1/4 cup nonfat dried milk * Having no dry milk, I used 1/4 cup (cold) nonfat milk, then filled it up to 1 1/3 cups with warm water.
• ~1/2 cup dried cranberries
  
• (~1/2 cup walnuts)
  

Combine all ingredients; stir till it starts to come together, then knead 6-8 minutes. Cover & let rise ~60 min or till nearly doubled.

Shape – I made two boules instead because I have no bread pan – into an 8-inch log and transfer to lightly greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 loaf pan. Cover again and let rise 30-60 min; preheat the oven during this time to 350F (or 400F, if you want to go for the oven spring, in which case turn oven down to 350 after ~10min.)

Bake about 40min, tenting lightly with aluminum foil (if you’re using the loaf pan) after 20min. Test for doneness by thumping the bottom of the loaf – it should sound hollow (<- pretty ingenious, no?) Remove from pan and cool before cutting.

I brushed some butter on top while it was still warm to add richness, since we were already cheating some (HONEY). Either I should’ve baked it a little longer, or should’ve tossed in some vinegar to make crust crunchier, I think. Otherwise I really wish it had walnuts in like those rolls, but it’s tasty nonetheless. The honey balances out the cranberries and, as proclaimed on the bag, the whole wheat does indeed have a “delightfully nutty flavour.” Thanks, flour!